The Neon Bible

Another film that caught me by surprise. I watched the Long Day Closes and was mostly bored by it. It felt to impressionistic for my taste that it did not really peaked my fancy when I watched it.

But after reading his fabulous Sight and Sound list choices, I decided to try another film of his once again -- in a more obscurer note, the Neon Bible. Adapted from the writer of the Confederates of Dunces, it tells the story of a troubled child in Nowhere, USA as he try to navigate his complicated family life, whilst intertwined with the South. Once her loving aunt decides to leave after a better opportunity arises, he reaches a rough decision that would change his life forever.

I was really shocked how much I love this film. It is just awe-inducing how well stylized it was and how the story just felt right even its much maligned fever pitch of a climax. I do not know, something about that climax worked for me. Its a clearly heightened depiction of growing up but I love how bizarre it was. It heightened the emotions of the film, which by then was pretty much subdued for most of the film. It also is an effective Americana (even though Davies is British) that works for its unabashed bluntness of how it depicts the South, grits and all.

Overall, a great film. [5/5]

The Neon Bible is the more obscure work by John Kennedy Toole (of Confederacy of Dunces fame). The book is a 1st person narrative of the main character's-David-10 or so most important memories of when he was growing up. I have read the book several times and think it is a wonderful book. I also think it wasn't particularly suited for cinema. This film more or less confirms that notion.

The resulting film is disjointed, episodic and because of how internalized David is the plotting is hard to fully grasp. I am not sure if the plot is understandable if you *haven't* read the book. The material is about the oppressive nature of small town life for different people-especially fire and brimstone religion-builds up anger and resentment that comes out in violence. That comes across in the film if you know you are looking for it. If you not I think much of the film will be esoteric.

I ultimately ended up liking the film on the level of the companion to the novel. It helps a lot that I rather like the book and there's not much different in the works. The cinematic qualities are fairly good-if a little TV production. The melancholy of the novel comes through loud and clear.

Overall I am glad this film exists but it could have been better.

I really admire the films that Terrence Davies made about growing up in British working class environment after World War II. They're brilliant works.

But this is horrifically off the mark.

The review of Davies' version of Edith Wharton's *House of Mirth* in the NY Times said that the movie was more like Charles Dickens than Edith Wharton. Which is exactly the criticism I had of this movie. These folks are not embodying American Southern farmers, they're acting like industrial working class people. I can understand and be sympathetic to the original story: my people, coming from South Carolina & Georgia, had lives very similar to the plot of this movie. Therefore, I could see where this could potentially be a very good film.

But nothing gets under my skin like an inability to see beyond one's own cultural bias...which is the major mistake of the director of this production. If you take the emotions, the gestures, the imagery of this film and put them in an industrial landscape, it would be an OK movie. But having people interact and react this way and have them being farmers in the Deep South is bogus, phony and w-a-y off the mark. If you want to see true southern Americana, skip this movie and see Elia Kazan's *Wild River* instead...

John Kennedy Toole is probably my favorite writer of the 20th century, even though he wrote only two books before committing suicide. One of those books - "A Confederacy of Dunces" - has earned a formidable reputation as a whacked-out, satirical masterpiece (it even won Toole a posthumous Pulitzer). His other book, "The Neon Bible," is far more obscure, sincere and frankly melancholy. I like both books, even though they're very different in terms of style.

So, I was naturally quite excited when I stumbled upon the DVD release of this movie; I wasn't even aware that any of Toole's work had been adapted to film. But I was also a little wary. Movies have a tendency to trivialize great books, and I predicted that "The Neon Bible" might, in cinematic form, degenerate into a depressing slog.

Alas, my prediction proved true. This movie is a slog. Director Terence Davies paces it like a funeral procession. He also fills the movie with weird, protracted shots of blackness, of whiteness, of starry skies; I imagine he's trying to be deep somehow, but all his slow zooms just bore me. Besides, at times he overplays the starry sky thing so much that it looks like the protagonists live in a cabin in outer space.

Both the book and the movie are anecdotal, but the book works because David - the shy teenage "hero" - makes an interesting narrator. His voice binds the anecdotes together, and naturally the reader learns about him through the narration. In this movie, though, he's largely silent; he just lurks around in the background of his own story. And, without his narration, the anecdotal scenes often make little sense and have no apparent connection.

I feel guilty about badmouthing this film, to an extent, because it at least strives for faithfulness. But the deadly slow pace really undermines everything. For instance, there's a Christian rally at one point, headed by an evangelist called Bobby Lee Taylor. In the book, this is a rousing set-piece, and Taylor is depicted as an energetic young man who really seems to believe the (ahem) propaganda he spouts. But, in the movie, Taylor is depicted as a lifeless old man, and he basically announces to the audience in an aside that he's a shyster. Ho-hum. That's the Hollywood trivializing machine at work. And the scene as a whole completely lacks energy, verve, oomph - whatever you want to call it.

This is going to sound like a strange statement, but I'm starting to develop a love-hate relationship with movies, with the emphasis on hate. It's always easy and tempting to pop a DVD in my player and relax for the evening, but I find lately that I get a lot more out of indulging in the brain-stimulating alternative pastime of reading. After all, books are, on the whole, lots better than movies. Case in point..."The Neon Bible."

I still can't stop hoping that, one day, they'll make a movie version of "Confederacy of Dunces." But I bet that'll be inferior to the book, too.

While on a train, a teenage boy thinks about his life and the flamboyant aunt whose friendship acted as an emotional shield from his troubled family. This film evokes the haunting quality of memory while creating a heartfelt portrait of a boy's life in a rural 1940s Southern town.

Edward Guthmann said the film was poorly received when it premiered at Cannes, but called it "gorgeous" and "one of the year's most beautiful films." He said it was a rewarding film that requires a little faith from the viewer due to long, slow, "lingering shots that work as a kind of meditation." He described the revival meeting at night "like an Edward Hopper or Thomas Hart Benton painting come to life." I will grant the film that it looks beautiful, but it lacks a deeper substance which would be necessary to make this a great film.

Director Terence Davies said "The Neon Bible doesn't work, and that's entirely my fault. The only thing I can say is that it's a transition work. And I couldn't have done The House of Mirth without it." I appreciate that he is humble enough to admit this is not his best work. Again, the film looks brilliant, so it's far from a complete failure. And you have to respect the brave casting decision that brought Denis Leary, not known for his subtle acting, on board.